Kanchi Shankaracharya Jayendra Saraswathi in custody

Thursday, November 18 2004, Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, India. Kanchi Mutt seer Sri Jayendra Saraswathi has been remanded to 5 day's police custody in the South Indian town of Vellore.

Jayendra Saraswathi is the senior pontiff of the 2500 year old Kanchi Mutt, situated in Kancheepuram in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu. He is also a prominent religious leader both because of the stature of the Mutt and the Mutt's large number of devotees but also for his active but unsuccessful role in resolving the Ayodhya dispute.

The seer was arrested on 11 November, 2004 at Mahboobnagar, about 150 km from Hyderabad of directing the murder of A.Sankararaman, a former Manager of the Mutt. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa said on Wednesday, November 17 2004 that the arrest was made since they had solid evidence. The evidence was in the form of a statement by two of the prime accused in the case confirming his invovlement, huge sum of money drawn to pay for the murder and telephone conversations with the killers.